Delirium

The trees were tall, dark and mysterious, clawing high above her head. The shivering wind pushed through the black branches making Somara shake as she walked slowly, confusedly.

Somara squeezed her eyes shut, trying to remember.

Get away, get away, get away. Run, run, run. Her thoughts whispered, but she did not understand.

"What? Why? I don't need to run, I need to think. I need to remember."

She began to walk through the forest. The deepening shadows made things seem more menacing, more life like, as if they had souls and would reach out and grab her. No. Her imagination began to take over. They would creep up behind her, reach slowly to entangle their scraped bark fingers in her dark hair, wrap the other about her waist and-

RUN!

It burst into her mind again. All clear thought was left behind in the mad dash away from the monsters that hid.

Something screeched and she could hear a howling that sounded like huge wings bearing towards her. Her thoughts came tangled, tripping each other up as her feet tried to dodge the roots that lurched into her path.

A shout.

She glanced back. A creature was chasing her.

Go, go, go.

She shook her head, trying to get rid of the thoughts that made themselves her own. A sharp pain knotted itself to her ribcage.

She tripped, stumbled. The creature was beside her. It grabbed her arm and pulled her up. She backed against a tree, fear clenching her throat closed and sending fingers of paralysis into her chest and along her scalp.

Blazing blue eyes cut into her, its hot breath coming fast.

She ducked away. The ground moved, extending, contracting like she was in a nightmare. She ran a few steady steps before falling. She lay still.

"Somara." A light pressure on her shoulder accompanied the voice.

She looked up, her thoughts clear. Ty knelt beside her, face shrouded gently in shadows, his blue eyes concerned.

She sat slowly and leant against a tree, exhaustion making her limbs heavy and with it came the pain.

"I don't understand," she muttered, her thoughts cluttered,

"I don't either. Why did you leave the hospital? Why did you run when you saw me?"

She shook her head, bewildered. "Something was chasing me. It was like a nightmare, but it must have been real... but it couldn't have been."

"You must have been hallucinating. Probably from the pain medication."

Somara didn't know wether to be relieved or worried.

"You're bleeding again."

She glanced at the injury she had sustained from falling out of a tree onto a fence. No wonder she hurt. Her erratic movements had caused the gash to reopen and her cracked rib to ache.

"Come, we'd better get you back." Ty helped her to her feet.

They walked slowly back to the hospital. The majestic trees threw a coolness over them, owls called and the breeze made small sounds as it ran through the trees.

How different the forest looked. Fear and confusion no longer gripped her and her thoughts came clearly. The forest was no longer the scene of a nightmare; it was beautiful.